Saturday, April 28, 2012

Freight Train Haiku

CN No 308 engines 2297-8845

Recently, while doing some fair-weather railfanning with a cup of coffee at our nearby McDonald's, I took a series of digital photographs of CN train No 308. We rail enthusiasts often retrospectively regret not preserving commonplace elements of a given era's rail scene, and my train of thought led to a blog post depicting an average CN freight train. Simple caption information seemed uninteresting. So it occurred to me...freight train prose. Well, what is the most under-utilized style of prose that I could use? Then it dawned on me - of course, freight train haiku! My first attempt to include the locomotive numbers resulted in a Haiku faux-pas, neglecting the 5-7-5 syllable count.

CN motive power

2-2-9-7, 8-8-4

5-extra number

(practice my boy, practice)

GTW 138430

Saskatchewan grand

truck western grain eastward ho!

this ain't Michigan

OLNX 224028

O, NaOH!

UN eighteen twenty-four

a caustic cargo

GATX 75405

We're cookin' with gas

barbecue season beckons

burgs and dogs await

BNSF 728993

Huge rolling canvas

graffiti job not finished

a tagger thwarted

NS 114577

Utility poles

linemen climbing skyward, for

now horizontal

CNA 412732

Middle child short

Will I be a hi-cube soon?

On a paper route

Mid-train engine 8877

DPU to you

every pull involves a push

bringing up the rear

GLNX 8182

Albino tank car

propane mainly on the train

stands out in a crowd

AIMX 1114

Hauling tons of scrap

American Iron Steel

giant grey trash can

TTGX 851645

UP autorack

Building America scheme

graffiti says SCRAM

TTGX 160598

Van Horne would be proud

transcontinental travel

CP rack on track

WC 37434

West Fraser lumber

cheesehead from the western woods

Dairy State of mind

CABX 470563

Cabot carbon black

packed powdery particles

soon getting tired

CN 414204

Carrying the TIBS

transmitting all's well back here

last becoming first

'Arigatou' for reading this far. Seems I'm not the first to combine trains and haiku. A Trains magazine forum did just that, eventually dissolving into haiku critics, limerick lovers, and a discussion of syllable counts versus various steam engine wheel arrangements.

Running extra...

As always, I welcome your comments on this post or any other, anytime. Perhaps you'd like to get into the spirit of things and if commenting, express some or all of your comment in the form of haiku, that is a 5-7-5 syllable count. Off-colour limericks also welcome.

Speaking of humour, I just finished listening to Steve Martin's Pure Drivel. I would call it pure hilarity - I don't think I've laughed so much on the way to and from work as I did listening to Steve's at-times sarcastic narration. From the chapter "Suggested Book Topics": Visions of melancholy from a fast-moving train. Now some foreign writer is rushing to his keyboard ready to pound on it like Horowitz." From the chapter "How I Joined Mensa: The Dictionary is a perfect example of over-alphabetization with its harsh rules and every little word neatly in place. I prefer a softer, more fuzzy alphabetizing scheme that allows the mind to float free and happen over a word."

Steve really is a master of the written word, and is also known for his humorous Twitter account. Some lyrics from his classic bluegrass number Calico Train: Sorrow and strain, they can both long remain / They can take you and leave you alone and in pain / But freedom's in sight, it's a road in the night / It's lit by the light of the Calico Train.

There will indeed be more from the Kingston Sub. I've got several posts in the can. Also dashing off quick posts on my VIA Rail book blog while working away at that project too. Almost a case of too many trains, too little time.

Very high on the haiku scale, Adam and Bryan, and good luck at Plug Hat.

As I mentioned, the haiku thing was an original idea, until I checked that Trains discussion forum archive and found that it has been done. Oh, the things that cross our mind when we're trackside...and no limericks yet.

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Rather Sketchy Profile

Eric Gagnon was born in Montreal, Quebec and has lived in Kingston, Ontario most of his life. Much time was spent trackside when not in school, college or practising as a medical laboratory technologist. Married with two children, Eric is also an HO-scale modeller, musician, avid reader and blogger, having launched his Canadian railfan blog Trackside Treasure in 2008. Eric's first book Trackside with VIA:The First 35 Years, published in 2011, was followed by two more in 2012: Trackside with VIA:Cross-Canada Compendium and Consist Companion. In 2017, Eric published his fourth book, Trackside with VIA - Research & Recollections. Eric's books can be found in museum gift shops, hobby shops and in the hands of VIA Rail enthusiasts across Canada, the United States and worldwide.

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